Dreams Lights
by EhCanuck
Summary: AU After an unfortunate series of events, Arthur Kirkland finds himself in a contract with two powerful demons who seem to enjoy making his life complicated. And his life is about to get a lot more complicated
1. Prologue

**AN- ****I'm not sure if this really counts as a cross over as no characters from the Kuroshitsuji show up; just borrowed the basic concept of a young orphan making pact with demons.**

**USUK and MapleTea... kind of, among a little hinted PruCan, Spamano and GerIta. But not really, just in a kind of turn your head and squint kind of way.**

**I do not own Hetalia**

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><p>He was exhausted, completely drained.<p>

He had run until he couldn't anymore, muscles screaming for rest and his bare feet cut up from the rough asphalt; and was now hiding in an alley, trying to make himself as small as possible. He had seen a pile of trash by a dumpster in the dark and took as his best chance to hide from the mad men tailing him. So he had tunnelled through the bags and curled up in a musty smelling cardboard box, hoping no one could see him. That no one would find him.

It was a dark and stormy night, so much so it was cliché, so to his young mind of course the events of this night were bound to happen. If it had been day and sunny, _they_ wouldn't have descended on his house and slaughtered his family and still be after him.

He tried to curl up smaller as he heard footsteps and a dog sniffing before it began to bark.

_Go away, go away, go away._

"Oh! There you are."

No such luck. He wondered who he has pissed off so badly in a past life to deserve this.

"Such a pretty little thing, hiding in the rain. Tell me little boy, do you want to play? I know someone who would very much like to play with you."

Then large hands pulled his trembling, resisting body out of the trash heap and into the rain, into the dark night and into hell.

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><p>It was dark, pitch black, just like it had been that night. He was hungry, thirsty, tired and his entire body felt on fire, as though someone was jabbing him with a hundred needles. Which they actually had been, not even a day ago.<p>

It hurt so much.

Days, months even had passed since that unpleasant night. In that time, Arthur had not seen the sun, had not bathed nor had he smelt the fresh air; in fact, he was lucky to be fed once a day, if it all. He was confined to a tiny, windowless cell that was constantly damp and smelt of something sour, a prison fit for chipping away what was left of his spirit. He couldn't sleep, the chains saw to that. No matter how he lay down, there was a link digging into him or a cuff would be sitting in the wrong place, rubbing raw skin to bleed.

These things combined to him feeling his sanity slowly slide through his fingers, despite his desperate attempts to cling to it. He was going crazy, soon he would be as mad as the Hatter from that book he had loved what felt like a lifetime ago.

Though he was nowhere near as mad as the doctor who ran this dump, that much was clear.

He had been looking for people with the right genes for his experiments and, unfortunately, apparently he had them. That was why he had sent people after his family and why he had people chase him through the streets of London; so that he could tie him down and cut him up in order to learn...something. The good doctor had not seen fit to tell him why he was doing this to him just that it was for the _greater good._

Arthur hated that sentence, it was usually followed by a great deal of pain.

He heard the door clink open and he squeezed his eyes shut, guarding them against the sudden onset of the light before he tried to push himself farther into the corner, his hateful binds jingling merrily as he did so, to escape the reaching hands.

Sadly it didn't work as he was pulled forward and released from the leg shackles before being dragged off, struggling but after being rendered immobile and starved for so long, his movements didn't seem to impede them at all.

That is, until he got lucky.

In his flailing, he managed to hit one of the hated guards/research assistants in the shin causing the man to relinquish his grip but for a moment, dropping Arthur to the ground. Though on the other hand, it earned him a knee in the stomach and a few kicks.

Arthur curled up, enduring the blows and whispered ever so quietly, his voice tiny from disuse "Someone help me!", expecting the next blow any minute. However, no further violence occurred to him and he cautiously opened his eyes.

The guards were gone, as were the walls of his prison and the iron cuffs and chains tying him down. Instead, he seemed to be outside in a world filled of mist and the shadows of trees and bramble. He uncurled himself and shakily stood up. This may be extremely bizarre but who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth?

He could get away from the mad doctor, his needles and knives.

However, just as he stood up, a voice silkily whispered in his ear. "My, what have we here?"

Arthur jumped and turned around, but no one was there, nothing but swirling mist met his eyes.

Then another voice sounded nearby, this one having none of the finesse of the other and cried out loudly. "A Kirkland? It has been too long since one had the power or will to appear before us, I thought the blood line was too diluted!"

"And yet he is here, what shall we do brother?" The other voice hummed, seemingly beside his ear but, even as he looked, he still couldn't see anything.

"S-Show yourselves! Who are you? Where are we?" Arthur cried, trying to not let his fear creep into his voice.

"Oh! He is bold, though ignorant." The fluid voice intoned. "I like him. What say you?"

"I agree, this is gonna be totally fun!" The boisterous voice boomed. "It's been far too long!"

The last thing Arthur saw before the mist wrapped around him and the world dissolved was a pair of laughing blue and violet eyes.

When he opened his eyes once more, he was once again in his dark, dank prison, with the 120 brick tall and 30 brick wide walls and the thick, oak door to his cell loomed over him. Reality. His escape likely just a coping mechanism created by his mind, a hallucination caused by his upset, broken mind. But...what was this? The guards were now lying on the ground, how peculiar. Arthur summoned as much strength as possible and crawled over to them and was astonished to see that they were dead.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish as Francis would say." Came the silky voice from before from behind him.

Startled, Arthur managed to whip around and found himself being loomed over by two men in their early twenties in white suits. But there was something off about them, something that set his hair on end.

"Wha?" He croaked out.

"He calls us out and yet has no idea what he's done?" He laughed. "That's priceless! Typical Kirkland for you." The one with laughing eyes said, amused.

The one with violet eyes chuckled. "It can't be helped I guess Al. In this time, not many but any weight behind old superstitions. You, Arthur Kirkland, have the blood of your ancestors, of powerful magic practitioners. They protected England from the shadows for the last millenia or so, they were the ones that the Kings and Queens would turn to in need. It was one of your family that defeated one of the four horsemen during the Black Death, sending Pestilence back to his burrow. So when you cried for someone to help you, the dormant magic in you summoned us. Don't believe me? Look at the palms of your left and right hands, there you will find the seals that bond us to you. We have matching ones"

Arthur looked at his hands and sure enough, inky black lines that hadn't been there before now covered them. The two in front of him then pulled off one of their gloves and on opposing hands were the same marks as on his own. Squinting to see the two better in the low light, he noticed that their eyes seemed to glow, that their ears were pointed, the nails black and had very sharp looking teeth...

He then croaked out. "Who- What are you?"

The loud one looked at him stunned for a moment before laughing. "Awfully perceptive aren't you kid? We're high ranking demons, no one since your great-great-great-great-great grandmother has been able to summon the likes of us. I'm known as Gluttony, though you can call Alfred."

"I'm Envy or Matthew." The violet eyes one chipped in.

"Now, we'll figure out the semantics later, we'll allow you to command us once for free, no contract, no hidden clauses as you let us out and honestly, we're bored." The demon said, his tail (that Arthur was just noticing) whipping back in forth like a dogs would in excitement.

"E-Excuse me?"

Envy cut in. "Order us. We will do anything within our power, what do you want?"

"Get me out of here."

"Ah-ah. Come now, you are the master of demons! Don't be so _lacklustre_. You can't say it like that, try again." Gluttony said mischievously.

"Um..." Then the words just seemed to flow out of his mouth without him really being conscious of it. "I order you by the power that is in my blood and our agreement to get me out of here and kill the ones responsible for keeping me here!"

Alfred looked at Matthew before shrugging as if to say _good _enough, before he licked his lips and simultaneously said with Matthew. "Gladly I hear and shall obey."

Arthur barely registered being carried out into the cool night and being laid down into the grass before he heard the screams of the condemned as the two demons descended on the human monsters in the facility before they burned it down.


	2. Chapter

**AN- The Arthur from the prologue was nine, I don't recall if I mentioned that anywhere.**

**Most things mentioned in here are old superstitions – like salt will drive away evil creatures, walking around your house backwards three times will protect it from evil, etc.**

**I do not own Hetalia.**

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><p>Arthur woke in a cold sweat. He had been dreaming about <em>that <em>night again. Considering it was still dark out, Arthur rolled over so as to go back to sleep, but instead found himself scrambling backwards as he saw a pair of glowing blue eyes peaking over the top of the mattress.

"ALFRED!" He shouted as he calmed his racing heart causing the (gorgeous) glowing blue eyes to dart out of sight. "You obnoxious bleeder! Rotter! Berk! Was it necessary to give me a heart attack a six in the stinking morning?"  
>He felt a weight at the bottom of the mattress as someone sat down with a sigh. "Didn't mean to scare you Artie, but...I'm hungryyyyy." The demon whined as he made his way up the bed until he was straddling the teen. "Feed meeeee." He cried plaintively as his blue eyes bore into the Englishman.<p>

You see, upon rescuing Arthur and helping him recover, the two demons had laid down their terms. In return for lending Arthur their power and protection, he in turn had to provide them with food. Also, in order for them to truly use their powers outside of protecting their contractor in the mortal realm, they required his permission/orders to do so. Which was fairly simple and straight forward, Arthur would've thought a demon contract to be more complex or dangerous. Then he found out what kind of food he would be required to provide...

"You're always hungry you mangy git!" Arthur protested trying to push the immovable Gluttony off of him. No dice.

"Nope. Hungry. Feed now, yes?" Alfred said offering a toothy grin, his teeth also seeming to glow, giving an impression of being the Cheshire Cat from that children's book.

Ugh. No escaping it then. Arthur sat up and leaned over to turn on the small bedside lamp. "Fine. Just make it qui-mmph!" Arthur was cut off as lips sealed over his in what would appear to be a kiss.

Which it wasn't, exactly.

Just to be clear; it was certainly not-exactly a kiss.

Yes, it was the psychical act of kissing but without the sorts of emotions that should be behind it. This is because, by kissing Alfred, or rather, Gluttony, he was providing sustenance for the demon. The food that both Gluttony and Envy required was simply energy; something that apparently was easiest taken through the mouth. They also liked souls but Arthur wasn't willing to go lure some stranger off the street and offer them as a sacrifice to the hungry pair.

Especially considering how frequently they seemed to eat.

"Aww Arthur. You're letting Alfred feed and not me? Such cruelty...I always knew you loved him more then me." Said Envy from the door, light malice tainting his playful words.

The pair separated with Arthur panting heavily, feeling like he had just done a triathlon before working a six hour shift in a warehouse. As he caught his breath, he gestured for Matthew to join them. "Stop being agony aunt and get over here and be quick about it, I have much to do today."

The demon smiled slightly and crossed the room before gently nudging the sated Gluttony out of the way and taking his place. Matthew's lips ghosted over his as he said "Thanks for the meal." before descending for a kiss of his own.

When Envy had also finished, Arthur felt himself slowly drifting off to sleep again but was dragged up before he could. "No can do Artie! You need to eat a bit before going back to sleep! We don't want you to go comatose on us again!"

Like he needed the reminder of _that _mishap.

"Fine. I'm up, up." he slurred out as he toed on his slippers and shuffled towards the kitchen. "It's too early in the morning for this."

"Alfred, quick stop him! Lu-" Matt shouted but Arthur ignored them, waving them both off. His cooking was delicious and he certainly required no interference... It was only when he was munching on some leftover curry that he realized he wasn't alone...Today was shaping up to being one of _those _days.

There was a hand on his arse.

"Ve~ Always so _tense_." Murmured the owner of said hand.

"AGH!" Arthur, though exhausted by early morning and by energy depletion, was not so far gone as to miss that... for long anyway. He spun around and glared first at the oblivious Lust before turning to the smirking Pride, the two freeloaders being far too at home in his kitchen. "To what...honour have I earned the presence of Pride and Lust?"

The French Demon sat on the countertop as if examine his nails for any dirt as he answered "You don't need to sound so put out by it mon cher. It is most unbecoming."

"Sod off Pride, the two bottomless pits fed again this morning and I'm tired and hungry and certainly not in the mood to put up with any of your nonsense and... DAMN IT LUST GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY ARSE!"

Food consumed, he decided once more that it was far too early in the morning for this shite and went to sleep on the couch, leaving the two interlopers in his kitchen to be more or less dealt with with by the two demons bound to him.

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><p>A few hours later, when he woke with a crick in his neck but in a much better mood did he realize something, freezing in mid stretch.<p>

Where Pride went, so too did Wrath and Sloth, the trio having an inclination for destroying his house in the most creative of ways. Bugger him sideways... It was still far too early in the morning to be dealing with this madness and the infamous Trio of Demons. Frankly, it was a miracle the house was still standing; Arthur theorizing that it had to do with the house's old protective wards.

The ancient house was his inheritance, it having belonged to his family since the 15th century, though recently no Kirklands had inhabited it, choosing to live in the city then out in the countryside. He couldn't recall ever having been there with his parents, though by the looks of things when he had moved in, they had come to do maintenance every now and again.

Arthur had fallen in love with the ancient house immediately. It was an old stone house, with protection spells carved into the very brick and, while fairly spacious, gave off a cozy aura and due to the generations of powerful Kirkland's living there, power had somewhat seeped into the core of the land and house. The house came with about one acre of land, which Arthur had steadily been turning into one enormous garden with flowers, trees, herbs and fruits and vegetables – it was now at the point where he didn't have to go to the nearby town to get any sort of produce or bread, he made his own.

He was also pleased as, now that he had finally turned eighteen, the Kirkland house was now completely in his name. After his rescue and turning up in the nearest hospital, starved, badly injured and on the brink of collapse, the media had had a field day. _Young boy turns up after a month _headlines had read and he had been questioned again and again by police over what had happened and how he had escaped. When all of that was finally over, there was then talk of who would gain custody of him, as he had no living relatives.

And that was when his two demons came in.

They had come to the hospital when one of the social workers was there and proceed to raise quite the fuss about how they were so happy he was alright and apologizing that it took so long for them to get here, that they had had to clear some paperwork and such back in America and that they were here to look after him now... It was all Arthur could do not to laugh at the over-the-top theatrics the pair had used, especially as they pulled faces every time the man's back was turned. Despite any misgivings he or the police might have had, the pair had the right (forged) paperwork and no one else had any sort of claim, so on his tenth birthday he became their "ward."

It was a strange sort of relationship, by their bond, he was their master of sorts but by his lands laws, they had authority over him. Somehow they had made it work.

When he was thirteen, he decided to start his own freelancing supernatural business – a side effect of being bonded to a pair of demons and having magic turning out to be the ability to see ghosts, demons and the fae – as he had developed a bit of a reputation in the shire for helping with any sort of said-related problems. It got to the point where it just seemed easier to make it a business with set fees and a list of what services he could do then to have people come to him and ask if he could read their palms or any other sort of nonsense.

This had worked well for a while, until they had had a major case involving a necromancer and a zombie horde. Alfred had been badly injured and had had to go back to the demon realm, so in order to protect him, he had called in a favour.

That favour coming in the form of a fight-loving demon with red eyes and white hair.

Or Wrath, as he introduced himself.

He had then proceeded to completely annihilate the zombies with his claws. Arthur still told the great pillock that he had scarred his eleven year old self for life when he had then go on to show him how best to kill each zombie by demonstrating on the corpses and then having Arthur do it.

He wasn't squeamish of much though after that.

After that particular case, there had been times when he had needed more then just the help of Envy and Gluttony and had made temporary contracts with the other five most powerful demons in order to solve a case or, more frequently, just survive it.

This wouldn't be so bad, in fact it would brag worthy in the magical community (which he was still just beginning to make contact with), but now that he had made those temporary bindings, they seemed to see that as an open invitation to come over whenever they felt like - which was more frequent then he'd like. It was also a bit of a blow to find out that his house (his beloved house) was allowing supernatural creatures to come without being summoned due to the power it had absorbed over centuries.

This, however, was only discovered once he had removed the mandrake root he had found when they had first moved in as the creature prevented demons from anywhere near it – meaning it prevented Alfred or Matthew from being near the house. Though he became even more annoyed as the lingering power in the house not only allowed the seven demons to easily come and go, it was also somewhat problematic as, with the mandrake root gone, he was constantly having to exorcize weaker creatures, the creature being responsible for keeping the minor pests away. Poltergeist, goblins and the like he had to continuously banish from his basement, attack and... just about everywhere actually.

That one time when he had been having a shower... it didn't bare thinking about. Regardless, he now kept a small knife and some pre-set barrier spells in each room; just in case.

On the other hand, it was also pretty cool as he got along well enough with the Brownies who lived in his kitchen (especially as they took over the cooking and cleaning) and the Green Man in the garden was helping it to flourish. The spirits nearby, while harmless and slightly annoying at times, had turned out to be excellent story tellers and a unbeatable home security system. Every now and again, he would look out the window late at night and see a unicorn grazing by the forest or fae gallivanting around his garden, new plants sprouting in their wake.

Surprisingly enough, being raised by a pair of demons (for reasons only known to them) wasn't all bad. They had taught him to control his magic and had enrolled him in the school nearby and each demon seemed to have helped in their own way. Pride had made him lunches for school, Sloth had attended parent-teacher interviews, Lust had applied for a credit card (damn age restrictions), Wrath had taught him to fend off bullies, Greed had taken him camping and of course Envy and Gluttony had been his rock, always being there and were his official guardians under the law (still wasn't entirely sure how they pulled that off). He'd never ever admit it because none of them needed the ego boost but they were as good as family to him, barely remembering his own.

Still, he really needed to go find Pride, Wrath and Sloth before they caused any damage. However before he could track down any of the six powerful demons (Greed better not show up or he'd flip his lid), the doorbell rang and so, grumbling, Arthur shuffled to go answer it.

Opening the door with an irritable "_What?_", he received a blank stare before the man at the door said. "Ah...I'm sorry if I woke you; I believe I have the wrong address. I don't suppose you know where Kirkland Paranormal Investigations is do you? It's supposed to be in this area."

Arthur straightened a little and tried to make himself a little more proper. "You have the correct address, I just wasn't expecting any callers this early.." He quickly checked his watch, yes it was still only about nine o'clock, "...in the morning. Please come in."

The other man looked him with a little surprise though he did step inside before he said. "Er...no offence but you seem a little, well, _young_."

Arthur sighed, while he was getting this a lot less then he had when had first started this business, the question still bothered him. What did age have to do with his capabilities? Banshees and the like would still try and kill you, regardless of if you were a tot or senile. "When I was eleven I successfully exorcised a murderous poltergeist that not even the strongest mediums or priests had been able to handle. I may be young but kindly do not judge me solely on that."

Before the other man could answer he continued. "Please go make yourself comfortable in the sitting room, I'll be right back down as soon as I've put something more professional on."

With that he darted upstairs where he was mortified to see Wrath and Envy snogging while Pride and Lust went through his wardrobe commenting on what they found while Sloth and Gluttony, seemingly bored with both options, slept on the floor.

Briskly he said, "Lads, I have a customer downstairs so please don't go raising a fuss. Wrath, Envy, get off my bed if you're going to do that, Gluttony go to your own room to sleep and bring Sloth with you, Pride and Lust, kindly sod off and go harass someone else, I don't care what you think of my apparel. Questions? No? Good." Not giving them time to answer, Arthur grabbed a button up, tie, socks and slacks before darting to the bathroom to change.

Within a minute, he was downstairs, pouring tea for his potential client. "So what's this all about then?" Arthur asked after a moment or two.

The older man, his blond hair slicked back severely and serious blue eyes placed his cup down on the table and leaned forward slightly as he answered. "My name is Ludwig and I've been sent on behalf of her Majesty, the Palace has had an influx of...unusual happenings. These are getting increasingly more violent and frequent and with the upcoming wedding of the Prince, Her Majesty wants the problem to be fixed. We have tried everyone but so far, nobody has been able to provide a solution. We were about to give in when someone in the archives found a document that mentioned your family name repeatedly as a solution for problems of this sort. Before I can tell you anymore I am required to get you to agree to absolute confidentiality and your word to help."

Arthur leaned back and thought. The case did sound interesting but for it to have defeated so many and for the problem to worsen... he would not be able to do this on his own.

"Alfred...Matthew. What do you think?" He asked, knowing the two bound to him were nearby, they were far too curious to ever leave well enough alone. Demons, like a supernatural creatures in this day and age, were invisible to human eyes unless the person was gifted or they chose to be seen.

So, when the two appeared, seemingly out of thin air, flanking the Brit; Ludwig jumped with a quiet shout. Arthur really couldn't say much for their positions; considering they were supposed to be at least semi-respectable – Alfred lying upside-down on one of the cushions, his feet resting on the top of the couch and head dangling off the edge while Matthew leaned over the top of the couch – wasn't really helping with that.

"Sounds interesting." Alfred said.

"I've been curious about what was going on, I can feel the miasma from here." Matthew commented.

Alfred nodded before he said "Y'know though Artie, if you're gonna take tha' case, you better make temp contracts with the _others_." Putting stress on that last word to signify just who he meant. "As Mattie said, by the miasma, dude won't leave easily."

"Wh-What?" Ludwig stammered.

"Don't worry." Arthur said, internally delighted by the man's reaction. "They're my associates and are quite harmless." Both Gluttony and Envy looked at him, offended. "To you anyway." Arthur amended.

Arthur then turned to the two demons. "Are you sure I must? To maintain contracts with the rest of you lot..."

"Ve~ Don't worry." Piped up Lust's voice, the brunette appearing behind the chair Ludwig was sitting in. "I'll feed from this boy here. He has some latent power so he should be fine, plus he's quite _handsome~._"

Ludwig looked freaked out as the demon walked his fingers up his shoulder while Arthur internally sighed. He then said, sympathetic smiling at the Guardsmen. "I'm sorry my friend, it seems you've attracted the attentions of the demon Lust."

"Call me Feliciano~ Luddy." The demon said pressing a kiss to the mans hand as he allowed his glamour to drop and his tail, ears and wings show.

"GAH!"

"Well, looks like I'll be helping." Arthur muttered to himself before he went over to pick Lust up by his... shirt, though it could barely be called that. "Calm down, you're scaring the poor man."

Turning to Ludwig, he said. "I'm sorry about that, allow me to explain. Due to the amount of magical power I have, I can easily summon the strongest of demons. The big seven if you will. I've made a personal contract with these two..." He said waving a hand to the couch where Gluttony and Envy sat, now in their demon forms as well. "While the other five then just decide to pop in every now and again as their wont. Normally they would be confined to the demon realms unless summoned but due to the power here, they are able to come and go as the please. The one hanging off you is known as Lust."

"What was that about feeding?" Ludwig squeaked out, obviously in over his head and still stuck on that one word. This probably wasn't helped by Feliciano (who'd gotten free of Arthur's hold) straddling his lap.

"In return for their power and protection, they require either souls or their contractors energy. Lust here has just decided that you will be his contractor."

"What! Don't I get a say in this?"

"About as much as I did..." Arthur grabbed his hand and turned it palm up where Ludwig promptly stared at the newly created mark. "Congratulations. I think this is the first time I've ever heard of Lust making a contract with a human."

"WHAT!"

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><p>Having agreed to help, Arthur found himself in London within the hour and was put up in one of the many rooms in the Palace. As per his request, every human with no power to protect themselves had left the premises, any and all tours cancelled and the Palace was essentially sealed off from the outside world.<p>

Grabbing a small bell and some salt, he went around the perimeter, activating a powerful barrier to keep any spirits or demons from following those that had left, just in case their grudge was directed at one of them. The salt layer of the barrier would keep any more malevolent creatures away – for some reason the mineral kept away evil spirits, demons and minor fae and ringing the bell would drive away the spirits that had a weaker hold on the building. He felt a bit ridiculous doing this in the middle of day, especially as the enchantment required the person to walk around the perimeter of where they wanted to barrier three times backwards.

That done, he quickly dusted off his hand before making his way to the courtyard. Hopefully Matthew and Alfred hadn't yet finished their preliminary search and would meet him there, on his way, he had received a text from his employers telling him that there was also going to be a priest specializing in exorcism and a world-renowned medium who would be participating in his investigation. If his demon companions got there before him...well, who knew what havoc they could wreck?

Stepping out from the gloomy corridors and out into the sunlight and the wide green space of the courtyard, he was pleased to see the medium Heracles (they had worked together once before and upon seeing him, the Greek's face broke out into a sleepy smile) and another who he could only assume was the exorcist Lovino – the youngest one to attain such a high rank in a century. He was surprised to see that Ludwig wasn't there yet, in the small amount of time he'd known him, Ludwig was never late.

Mentally shrugging, he went to the grumpy looking priest, offered his hand and said, "Arthur Kirkland, Supernatural Specialist"

Instantly his hand was smacked away and the priest _growled _at him "Are you out of your mind? You reek of demon!"

"I resent that." Pride said slowly rising from the ground as though walking up stairs in a fashion reminiscent of a miming trick. "I certainly do not smell."

The priest's jaw dropped and he pointed at the demon, mouth moving as he attempted to form words but failing.

_Why did the Sins enjoy making an entrance so much? _Arthur rubbed the bridge of his nose wishing he wasn't temporarily/permanently bonded to such creatures with such a need for the dramatic.

"Kesesese. Close your mouth, you look like an idiot." Wrath cackled as he appeared, hovering above them and swooping down at the panicking priest, dragging Envy with him.

Lovino turned bright red but before he could retort, there was a finger poking his cheek and he heard "Lindo~ He looks like a tomate, si?"

"God damn it Sloth!" Arthur growled. "Keep your hands to yourself!...Speaking of which, where's Lust?"

Just then, Ludwig came trudging out to join them, Lust clinging to his back while Ludwig just looked drained.

Lovino at last managed to stutter out. "W-What are five of the Seven Deadly Sins doing here?"

"Six." Gluttony corrected as he appeared and leaned on Arthur by resting his elbow on Arthur's head. Arthur already felt the strain of helping five demons maintain solid, human-looking forms...he was going to regret this later. "Relax~ We're not your enemies. First off, we're not the actual sins or anything, it's just the strongest seven demons are given the titles and we cast off (for public use at least) our names. Not like I'm going to influence you to go eat out an entire McDonald's or something... Anyhoo, we aren't any danger to you cause me n' Envy are bond to this dude here and we've all become rather fond of the little tsundere."

Envy raised an eyebrow. "Gluttony, using words that your tengu friend uses without knowing what they mean does not make you sound smarter."

"Shut up Envy. I know what it means, I'm using it cause li'l Artie here doesn't."

Arthur shoved the demon's arm off his head and said. "Stop calling me that you great pillock! My name is Arthur, A-R-T-H-U-R."

Heracles cleared his throat, successfully interrupting any further fighting. "So why did you call us here?"

Arthur looked sheepish for a moment before he said. "I figured the best way to get started would be to do a divination, I have some rune stones here. That way we can find out what it is the spirits want..."

Lovino nodded, though he continued to eye the demons wearily. "Sounds good."

Settling up another barrier with Envy and Gluttony's help, Arthur then began to chant and throwing the runes, taking note how each landed and began to summon one of the spirits interfering to ask it questions.

However, as with most things in Arthur's life, this didn't go to plan. It didn't go to plan for one of seven reasons it always seemed to...

"...You called da?" A pale head covered in silver hair and two horns popped up from the ground.

"...FUCK OFF GREED!"

* * *

><p>It had been four nights, and yet the teams had yet to run into any sort of major spiritual activity. This was fairly typical as most ghosts and the like are wary of change and of new faces and make themselves scarce when there is someone new in their "territory". While not entirely uncommon, it was still strange that this was still happening four days later, especially as these spirits were supposed to be violent. In fact, Arthur was troubled by how little they had seen – with the number of instances his employers had reported, there shouldn't have been any period of quiet, not when they had been such violent spectres.<p>

His concerns only grey as in tonight's searching, Arthur had run into a bunch of the old, harmless ghosts that haunted the area. Harmless as in they weren't powerful enough to do anything, nearly all of them held grudges and if they did have power would be causing mischief. Key words being _if they had the power, _which they didn't.

Now, if they had, Arthur would've considered the case closed; after all the likes of Guy Fawkes, Anne Boleyn, Mary Queen of Scots, Lady Jane Grey, the two Princes of the Tower (Edward IV's sons), Arthur (nephew of John Lackland), among others had perfectly good cause to haunt the Palace and had no reason to be at peace with the history of the building they haunted or with its present occupants. But as they were lesser spirits, Arthur let them be, after all, their haunting were good for tourism and the little mischief they could manage was harmless. However, that still left him with the problem that the lesser ghosts had appeared before their more powerful and destructive ghosts. Had they gotten through the wards? But a quick phone call dispelled that theory.

It had him bewildered. Never before had he gone against an opponent(s) who had gone so against what he was expecting them to do...it was very strange.

Besides the frustration of having had little results, their hunt for the source of the ever-increasing miasma, left them fairly irritable and Lovino complained of a constant headache. The Sin Demons had mostly paired off with each other, Lust following Ludwig around and Envy and Gluttony taking turns working with Arthur while Lovino and Heracles – Lovino being fortunate enough to be born on Halloween giving him an innate sixth sense that when combined with the little power he had, outmatched even Arthur's gift. The priest could clearly see and converse with all manors of ghosts, even those that had been around for millenia and who's voices had faded to little more then a whisper – which was useful in their present search; that and by being with the medium, Lovino could easily perform the necessary exorcisms when Heracles got possessed by one of the more mischievous spirits.

As dawn approached, Arthur became increasingly okay with the creatures not showing up as helping the six demons he had contracts with maintain solid form and be able to move about the mortal realm easily combined with searching the Palace for fifteen hours a day had left him slightly better off then an insomniac. In fact, it had gotten so noticeable that Lovino and Heracles offered to support one each temporarily so Arthur could recover a little. Pride had gone with Heracles while Sloth, for some unknown reason, was the only one able to handle contact with a priest and had been feeding off Lovino. Wrath and Envy had offered to go formless for a while which reduced the strain somewhat and Greed had already wandered over to the Tower of London, to "investigate" and help the old souls pass on (Arthur didn't want more clarification as not only was the demon was giggling but he seemed to have found someone/something else to sustain him... Arthur was running into less and less ghosts lately.)

Still, Arthur was still a dead man walking even with this help, causing Alfred to hover around him protectively to prevent him from walking into anything, especially after he nearly fell down an enormous staircase.

As Gluttony worriedly herded him back to their rooms, he tried to focus on the niggling feeling in the back of his mind that was telling him that they were missing something.

But what?

* * *

><p>It was when night fell again twelve hours later when the demons reported no findings and Heracles and Lovino, being the daytime searchers this time and still no perpetrators were found, that it occurred to Arthur that it might not be spirits that they were dealing with. He had looked out the courtyard and saw a large circle of mushrooms right in the middle of it. <em>A fairy ring. <em>That was it! The reason they couldn't find a nasty, malevolent spirit was because it wasn't a spirit at the source of the miasma! It could be a demon or ghoul or one of the higher fae! It could be that the Royal House had somehow angered the beings and that all the damage and problems were being caused by the vengeful creatures. It was possible someone had made a deal in a dream or the like and had fallen through on their side of the bargain... However, the only way to know for sure was to find out from the horse's mouth – so to speak.

Now all he needed to do was track down one of the types that lived in the palace, preferably a Brownie, they were the nicest to deal with, not at all snooty like some of the others kinds of fae. Not even bothering to explain, he ran to his room, grabbed the pouch he kept for these sorts of cases before running back.

He then quickly pinned a four leaf clover to each of their jackets as, by old superstition, they would allow them to see the tricky creatures and gave them each a makeshift hat which, if they had to cut through the ring, they were to reverse so the fae could not whisk them away or make them fall under their influence. While he didn't tell his companions his suspicions – as the one time he had mentioned the fair folk, the other three had been skeptical – , he was successful in getting them to wear the hats and clover. The hats themselves were amusing as it wasn't as if normal hats could really be _found _in the palace and resulted in all of them wearing the strangest things on their heads.

So that night, while the others were patrolling, he sat instead in the throne room and poured out a bowl of milk and waited, humming quietly.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Heracles was investigating the underground tunnels he and Lovino had found in the cellars when he stumbled upon a hidden room that had strings of ageing wooden flutes and charms all over the walls. It was as if stepping into another world. As soon as you crossed the threshold, the weight of the miasma tripled and Heracles had to fight to not empty his stomach or pass out.<p>

He immediately began to back-pedal, shouting for Lovino. He needed to get out of there.

What on earth was a barrier of this strength doing under the palace anyway?

* * *

><p>Soon enough, the four of them were again in the courtyard, this time with an entirely different purpose in mind. Heracles had gone dashing out of the cellars in a panic, dragging a bewildered Lovino with him and had run into Ludwig who had then promptly found Arthur just as he was finishing up his conversation with the fae.<p>

Between the two of them, they were at last making progress on their case.

Arthur was the first to share his findings for the night. The fae that still lived in the palace and who had enjoyed much of the old courtesy directed at their kind (bowls of milk left out at night and the like) and had returned the favour with their protection were the source of the destruction. They had done it in order to try and gain the attention of the family in order to alert them of the danger below or at least cause them to summon a high calibre supernatural specialist who could find it. None of those who had come before Arthur had had enough power or belief to see them and upon sensing Gluttony, Envy and the others, the small creatures had hidden from the powerful demons.

Heracles then explained about the hidden room and the disintegrating barrier contained within. From what he could recall and from past experiences, he hypothesized that the powerful barrier was either sealing off a gateway to the demon realm or one to the underworld. If that was the case, it would also explain why none of the Sins had been able to find the room – such barriers were two-fold one which also prevented any non-human entities from even entering the room.

Upon hearing that, Arthur pulled out the oldest looking book ever from his bag and flipped through it quickly before settling on a map that appeared to be from about the 1500's. The borders were all wrong and the continents inaccurately portrayed but it was clearly a map of Europe with small dots on them of different sizes and shapes. Arthur, bent over what could maybe be a legend before having a whispered discussion with the Sins before he began to speak.

"This is one of my family's old record books and parts are indecipherable, but the Latin that could be read explains that these dots..." he pointed to the three that looked like a bulls-eye, "mark the locations where the boundaries between out world and the demon world are weakest and these dots..."he pointed to the ones that were small stars, "mark the locations of the sealed portals that led to the underworld. The bulls-eye ones aren't a concern for us right now as they're in France, Greece and Ukraine – the ones that are important in this case are the stars, particularly the one that is marked . Each of these were to be heavily monitored and maintained by old, powerful families,s eeing as there are only three in total, this is not too hard a task but from what Greed tells me, the Romanov family guarded the portal in Novosibirsk and the Medicis were the guardians of the one in Florence. However, after the fall of the Medicis in the 18th century, their task fell to lesser magical families who slowly forgot it and when the Remonovs were all killed in the revolution occurred in Russia in the early 20th century, no one knew about the portal. My family was in charge of maintaining this one, but judging by what you saw Heracles, no one has fulfilled that duty in too long. Since the three barriers are tied together (why did magic favour that number anyway?), as one fell into disrepair, the seal on the other two also began to crack. We're going to have to repair the damaged flutes and replace those that had already broken before renewing the seal altogether...Then I'm going to need to take a trip to Florence then to Novosibirsk to fix the other two."

"Why couldn't it just be a simple exorcism?" Lovino groaned out. "What do we have to do to renew the seal?"

Arthur turned beet red and shifted uncomfortably. "You're not going to like this."

* * *

><p>That was how the four of them (sans demons who could not enter the room without destroying the barrier altogether) ended up in a small, dark, dank room in the ancient cellars, holding newly carved flutes, painted completely in weird symbols and...naked.<p>

"Are you sure this is necessary?" Asked a very uncomfortable Ludwig who had to not only suffer under the cool air as the rest did but had also been under Lust's scrutiny all the way down to the room. Poor man.

"According to the spell...yes." Sighed Arthur, who was no happier about this then Ludwig, the _teasing _he would get for this later. He shuddered at the thought.

"Shut up and get with it already!" Shouted the irate priest. "The sooner you hurry up and do this, the sooner I can put some pants on bastardo!" Lovino had also suffered under the scrutiny of a demon on the way down, Sloth acting...very unSloth-like to say the least.

Heracles didn't seem to really notice, opting instead to curl up on top of one of the empty barrels while he waited for the other three to get their act together.

None of them were particularly happy to be in the room either. Heracles and Arthur as the ones with the most magic had practically keeled over with the first few steps before they had adjusted and all of them looked sick, pale and were tense. The sooner the barrier was fixed, the better.

Arthur nodded in compliance with Lovino's request (and wanting pants on as well) began to draw the chalk circle in the ground while he got Ludwig and Lovino to light the candles for him. Then each of them sat within the circle.

While each had power which they used to feed the circle (Lovino having reluctantly taught Ludwig not even an hour before), none had the ability to see what Arthur was seeing now.

As they passed around the flutes, both new and old, and added them to the string, Arthur was able to see the threads that connected each flute to the other and then to the overall barrier and ward. As they progressed through the spell (a relatively simple one, a few words here, an incantation there and a few gestures) the room slowly began to resemble a beautiful multiple-coloured spider web, each strand glowing with power.

When they were at last finished, the symbols they had previously drawn into their skin were gone, having bled into the working leaving the four of them to do their best to avert eye contact as they no longer even had the paint to somewhat cover themselves.

"...If Pride stole the clothes I left out there I'm going to kill him."

A day in the life of the Kirkland prodigal son and little did he know, his troubles were just beginning.

* * *

><p><em>GilbertPrussia (Wrath)_

_Francis/France (Pride)_

_Matthew/Canada (Envy)_

_Ivan/Russia (Greed)_

_Antonio/Spain (Sloth)_

_Feliciano/ North Italy (Lust)_

_Alfred/America (Gluttony)_

* * *

><p><strong>I read some of Garth Nix's works recently, specifically <em>Abhorsen<em> that I borrowed the wood flute idea from - I'd highly recommend the series.**

**I didn't want to make France Lust because probably anyone who has done such a story has made him that and there's more to his character then being a world pervert... I made him pride because of France's monarchy days (especially under the Sun King) and imperialistic time where nationalism was a very big thing. Pride is also somewhat tied in with vanity, which, by canon, France is (uniforms! Tacky vs. stylish/flashy)**


	3. Epilogue

**AN – Hello! Long time, no update P: Sorry, life has been busy and I am working for the summer (and trying to avoid heatstroke) so updates may be sporadic... but they are coming. I swear. Yep. Chapters will also be a bit shorter, sorry P:**

**Partly what took me so long was fleshing out where exactly I would be taking this (as originally was to be a one shot) and I still only have a rough idea so I would love to hear your thoughts on this and any ideas you may have or stories you would recommend. :D**

**I do not own Hetalia, only my plot.**

* * *

><p>Arthur stood up from the crouch he had been in, stretching before slumping a little, exhausted and defeated. The weather was gorgeous, the day quiet and there was a slight breeze - a perfect summer day really - but when Arthur stared out at his garden, he couldn't help but imagine a dark cloud was hovering above him.<p>

Upon returning from trip to Italy and Russia to repair the underworld boundaries, he had been horrified by the state of his garden.

Truly and completely horrified.

It wasn't that the Green Man living in the garden hadn't looked after it for him, no, not at all. In fact, it was more the _opposite_.

When you have a creature living in a garden that is the personification of plant growth and well-being without a helping hand to keep the results down, well, to put it simply... his garden had become a jungle. The herbs were growing rampart, the trees had shot up a foot, the grass was level with his hip, the flowers were fighting each other for space, animals had gotten in the fruit and vegetable garden with the remains strewn everywhere and_don't even get him started_on the more magical plants that inhabited the space.

God. Damn. It.

He was gone for only _two weeks._Two weeks! And already he had weeding that would take him at least a week to catch up on and it would take another two for him to bring it back to the state of organized chaos. He looked out once more at his 20mX10m garden, hoping that somehow it had ordered itself a little.

Nope.

Instead, he did see the Green Man looking down at him apologetically from the tree he had claimed for his own.

Well, he couldn't have that. So with an exhausted smile and a wave he reassured, "Don't fret about it mate, I wouldn't ask you to go against your nature. Thank you for looking after it while I was gone."

When the Green Man waved back and vanished, he felt slightly better and with a groan he crouched once more.

"Now come here you damn hogweed and meet your death at my hands!"

He was so distracted by his task, he failed to notice the shadow until it was too late.

* * *

><p>Ludwig sighed as his train stop was at last called, bent over to get his rucksack and briefcase from under the seat before quickly making his exit, avoiding looking around as much as possible as he did so.<p>

You see, since he had helped Arthur in the case at the Palace, he kept seeing weird things everywhere. _Unnatural_things. For a small while, he managed to convince himself that it was just hallucinations caused by stress from work. However, that idea quickly but the dust when Lust reappeared into his life and dragged Ludwig through a mess of problems.

The demon just couldn't keep himself out of trouble and Ludwig felt himself rapidly going grey. Especially, once some particularly mischievous imps discovered that he could see them and also his OCD for cleaning. Yep, he could feel his blood pressure climb even just thinking about it.

That was why, after fifteen days, nine hours, sixteen minutes and fifty-four seconds ago, he handed in his resignation. His life would need to follow a new path now, even though it had always been his dream to be the head of the Guard, it had become increasingly clear to him that he had changed and would need to gain control of this new ability for his life to have any semblance of normalcy.

This is why he found himself once more standing out in front of the Kirkland residence, fist poised above the door, about to ask for help from a sixteen year old boy. Albeit a highly trained and powerful boy, but a boy nonetheless. One that was eight years younger then him. Yes, it was a blow to his pride but he needed help and he knew Arthur could help him.

"How long are we going to stand here Luddy? We can just go in~"

After all, the boy was rather mature for his age and...

Ludwig was then yanked abruptly from his thoughts as Lust threw open the door and flounced in just as a very muddied and enraged Arthur came tearing down the hall swinging an axe chasing the cackling Wrath and Gluttony.

"COME BACK HERE YOU SODDING LITTLE PIECES OF..." Echoed through the hall followed by pained cries and the crashing of glass upon which the cry of "HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW?... WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO TINY THAT THEY CAN ONLY BE SEEN WITH A MAGNIFIYING GLASS YOU JERK!" was heard.

...perhaps not so mature after all.

* * *

><p>When all the commotion had settled down, Ludwig was guided over to the mostly-intact living room by a embarrassed Arthur where they then spoke about why he was there and his circumstances. While the expected blow to his pride came, it was only a self-inflicted one, Kirkland not mocking him or making fun of him but rather just nodded in acceptance.<p>

The boy had instead gotten up, gotten tea for them both before saying sadly, "I was hoping this wouldn't happen."

Of course, Ludwig had been bewildered by this. However, with some explanation from Arthur and a bored Envy (all the other demons in the house having been temporarily sealed in the basement by a very irate Arthur), it was determined that the collapsing boundary had been at fault for awakening the sentient gift in him. It was regrettable, they told him, that he had been around so many powerful magic users and demons because otherwise his gift probably would've gone dormant again. That was what they had hoped for for him, knowing that if it were to remain active it would completely alter his life.

"Why didn't you warn me then? I thought I was going mad!" Ludwig asked.

"_Feliciano _was supposed to tell you." Matthew sighed, the demon running fingers through his hair as though that answered everything... which it sadly did.

"Well then, perk up old boy. I'll help you... not that I'm doing this for your sake or just wanting to help, it's that I'm feeling responsible after I was the one who exposed you to more magic and even had you consciously use it and... you can be my apprentice!" Arthur seemed to be doing his best to hide his excitement and appear nonchalant but judging by the looks he was getting, he was failing.

Ludwig decided to accept before the normally composed boy could become any redder or stammer something else; the poor teen seemed even more awkward then he was and didn't seem to know quite how to react in front of his request.

* * *

><p>So over the next few weeks Ludwig was exposed to a world that he had never even dreamt could have existed.<p>

Mornings was meditation in a protection circle so it could get a better feel for where his magic was within him and thus, how to draw on it. Then there was some gardening and weeding where Arthur would point out different plants and teach him which ones were helpful and which could be used in spells. After a quick shower, he would then go ensure that Lust was up before making his way to the kitchen. After breakfast (something Ludwig now insisted he cook), Ludwig would retreat to the study to read one of the many books Arthur had given him while Arthur went and did...something and Feliciano did his best to not distract him and in the process made it impossible to read at all.

Following lunch, the demons would all go sleep as while they could go out in the sunlight, their powers were greatly weakened in the daylight and as a result would usually sleep when the sun was at it's zenith until about mid-afternoon. Meanwhile, Arthur and Ludwig would go over the different branches of magic, Ludwig so far liking potions and seals which were both logical and more to his personality while transfiguration and illusions on the other hand...not so much.

Then around four, an hour or so before dinner, Ludwig would wake Lust, Envy and Gluttony up and they would go help Arthur track down any unpleasant creatures that had snuck in past the wards. Which, due to the continuous presence of demons, weren't that strong. So far, Ludwig had had to learn how to deal with and get rid of Dryer Wolves, Closet Gremlins, Pen Dragons, Bathsilisks, Bed Wraiths and a pooka named Harvey. He had yet to find where the Sock vortex was (a pesky thing that, Ludwig was now missing half his socks), but he was coming to suspect that it was the demons way of messing with him (Matthew and Alfred seemed to enjoy tricking him about such things) as Arthur had yet to mention said creature.

After dinner, he then had free time, which he would typically use to exercise a little and cajole/bribe/drag the lazy demon Feliciano to do it with him before going to bed.

It wasn't until a month had passed that this schedule changed.

* * *

><p>It was nearly time for dinner and Ludwig had left Arthur and the three demons to negotiate with the House hippos that had settled in the linen closet while he began to prepare a simply dinner of lasagna and salad. However, just as he finished preparing the meat, the doorbell rang. So after a brief glance down the hall and seeing that the trio were completely engrossed in their present task (moving the herd of tiny hippos, including a number of calves), he quickly rinsed his hands and went to answer it. After wiping his hands with a tea towel, he threw the cloth onto his shoulder while he simultaneously opened the door.<p>

"Hello?" Ludwig called, not seeing anyone.

"Excuse me, is this Kirkland Paranormal Investigations?" Came a soft voice.

Upon looking down a little, he jumped when he saw two younger children around the age of ten standing there, a boy and a girl.

Finding his voice, he then verified before worriedly questioning, "Yes, yes it is... Isn't it a little late for you to be out? Where are your parents?"

"They're sick..." Explained the little girl before the boy cut in.

"We need help! Somethin' weird's been goin' on and we just finished savin' our allowance and we really gotta talkta the ghost guy and we had to sneak out cause the 'rents aren't listening and..."

At this point Ludwig had heard enough, "Sorry to interrupt, but would you like to come in? No sense standing outside talking."

Getting two nods in confirmation, he opened the door a little wider and let them in. "I'm just in the middle of making dinner, so if it wouldn't be too much trouble..."

"Of course mister Kirkland." The girl intoned quietly.

Ludwig stopped short, a little surprised and had to hold in a derisive laugh. "Sorry little one, but I'm not Kirkland..." and as if summoned by his name Arthur slid around the corner calling his name - though if Ludwig's ears didn't deceive him, Alfred, Feliciano and Matthew were not far behind - a mama house hippo balancing precariously on his head and two babies in his hands. "...he is."

"Ludwig!...Oh! We have guests!" The Kirkland heir had the decency to look sheepish, quickly looking down at his present disheveled appearance before getting bowled over by Gluttony, Envy and Lust as they slid around the corner into him. Giving a weak chuckle, Arthur sprang up before turning to his apprentice and gently handing the hippos over.

"Beilschmidt, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you please get some peanut butter toast crumbs, raisins and a small bowl of water for the little ones? Take these three with you, won't you please?" Ludwig nodded, glad to get back to the kitchen before Arthur could change his mind and try to take over. After all, rebuilding a kitchen is expensive and exhausting, not to mention the residents of the house would then have to eat whatever charcoal the hapless Arthur had concocted.

As he walked away he heard, "My name's Arthur, what's yours?"

"I'm Peter and she's Hanya! Why are your eyebrows so big?" The little boy's chipper voice answered.

Arthur was clearly struggling to keep a reign on his temper, his voice tense "...Why don't both of you come this way and you can tell me why you're here."

Quickly looking after the hippos and getting them back to the linen closet, Ludwig got back to work with Feli's help, Matt and Al wandering off to the recesses of the house, likely to play video games. It was only after finishing making the lasagna and putting it in the oven and putting the complete salad into the fridge did Ludwig wander back out. He found Arthur and the two children in the living room where it seemed Arthur always took potential clients and gave them his traditional cup of tea. Upon entering, he was surprised to see the supernatural expert leaning forward in his chair, elbows on his knees with his fingers steepled; clearly lost in thought. Looking to his left, he saw the two kids calmly sitting and sipping their tea, oddly adult-like in their mannerisms.

Kinda like Arthur...

Knowing that the kitchen timer would go off when he needed to remove the lasagna from the oven, Ludwig's curiosity got the better of him and he found himself sitting on the settee by the fireplace, waiting for Arthur to speak.

About fifteen minutes later, just as Ludwig was finishing counting the number of bricks that made up the fireplace and chimney (two-hundred and twenty-eight), Arthur finally came back from his musings and slowly announced. "Peter and Hanya, the case...we'll take it."

We'll? Arthur was getting him to help? That was new. Having gone back to his former employers after Arthur had agreed to help with the seeming haunting problem, this was the first time Ludwig had the opportunity to have an inside look on how the teen worked on large cases. After all, all the ones that had come up over the month, Arthur had taken care of on his own and the gateway case, he hadn't been able to help for most of it.

This could be very interesting.

* * *

><p><strong>Any references are intentional and for my amusement, can you spot any?<strong>

**All the household creatures I mentioned with Ludwig I made up for my own amusement, except the House Hippos. House Hippos are from a Canadian commercial aired when I was kid (ages ago) by concerned children's advertisers and is worth the youtube search to watch :D ( ****www. youtube watch?v=YLG2JP0P5JE ****)**

**Arthur is a curious combination of mature and childish due to his experiences as an experiment when he was a child and the death of his family before his dormant supernatural abilities awoke and was thus not really able to have a childhood. This is why he may seem a little OOC, but I hope that that came across :)**

**In case anyone was wondering, Ludwig is 24 and Arthur is 18.**

**EDIT - SO MY COMPUTER HAS CRASHED FOR A SECOND TIME TAKING ALL OF MY NOTES WITH IT AND CORRUPTING MOST OF MY WIPS AS WELL. AS MUCH AS I ENJOYED WRITING THIS, I DO NOT REMEMBER WHERE I WAS GOING WITH THE REST OF THE PLOT (WHY THE CHAP NOW ENDS HERE) AND AM NOT INTERESTED IN TRYING TO REWRITE THE NEXT CHAPTER FOR THE FOURTH TIME. SORRY THIS IS NOW COMPLETE**


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